Ellen Roark

Ellen Roark (1952-) was a Mississippi lawyer who, while studying law in 1984, became a part of Carl Lee Hailey's defense team during his murder trial. She survived assaults by the Ku Klux Klan and continued to work on his team until he was acquitted.

Biography
Ellen Roark was born in Canton, Madison County, Mississippi in 1952, and she studied law during the 1980s. Roark held liberal views, and, in 1984, she decided to volunteer on Carl Lee Hailey's defense team during his trial. She was kidnapped and assaulted by Klansman Freddie Lee Cobb during the trial, but she continued to work on Hailey's defense team until his acquittal; Cobb was later arrested for assaulting Roark.